


The Unraveling of Vriska Serket

by SchrodingersKitten



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Sgrub Session, Bitter Alternian Summer, Hauntings, Horror, Multi, Psychological, Shadowdroppers, Some Paradox Space crossover, Stray Lusii, Undead, trollak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 08:45:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8198704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SchrodingersKitten/pseuds/SchrodingersKitten
Summary: A timeline where Doc Scratch never interfered with the young trolls, leaving Aradia alive and Gamzee sober. Written special for the great month of October, part of an attempt to make Halloween last forever.





	1. Chapter 1

Vriska was doubled over in the tornado of souls. Their bony fingers poked and prodded, grabbed at her hair. She felt all their pain, all the pain of being dead, of sitting in the ground and rotting until you were nothing. She heard them beg for mercy, she heard them insult and judge her, she felt them blame her for their death. How many of these had she killed? How many would she have killed if given the chance? She rose and stumbled over to her husktop.

AG: Pl8se  
AG: C8ll th8m off  
AA: no  
AA: you fucked up vriska  
AA: and i have to make you pay  
AG: You d8nt kn8w what its l8ke  
AG: Living l8ke th8s  
AA: they barely know what its like to live  
AA: try to be a big girl  
AG: F8ck you, megido

She slumpt over her husktop, feeling her bones turning slowly to dust as the wraiths screamed in her ears. Eventually, she fell onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. They were a storm, a tempest of lost spirits, flitting across her vision here and there. It seemed like years before they calmed down, but it was probably hours. The air was so cold as they gathered around her, her breath making a smoky mist with each exhale. She couldn't move her fingertips, they felt like frostbite. The ghosts towered over her, eyes glowing dimly all the colors of their blood. Horns scraped the ceiling and passed through walls. Vriska was dimly aware of the die digging into her back.

One by one, they departed. They faded smoothly, delicately out of existence. Soon, there was only one left, standing at Vriska's feet. She recognized him immediately. Death hadn't made him lose any weight, one of his horns was missing from the blast. She always thought the little knob on his horns made him seem silly. Olive eyes rested on her for about five minutes, before he turned and left.

***

It took Vriska about fifteen minutes to muster up the strength to stand again. Every bit of her was cold. She dragged herself back to the husktop, trolling Aradia one last time for the night.

AG: Hey megido  
AG: Youre a 8itch

She didn't even make it to her recupercoon. She passed out on the floor.

***

It was hot. Unbearably hot. The Alternian summer is not a gentle beast. Kanaya was about a mile out, in broad daylight. The sun didn't bother her much, but she wrapped a scarf around her face to protect her skin anyway. The beasts in the desert had been restless lately. She needed to do a quick cleanup every now and again. She saw them grouping together on the horizon, hundreds of shadowdroppers in one place.

She knelt over a freshly re-deceased corpse, it's skull split cleanly in two down the center. She felt it's mummified skin, dug inside it's sticky cranium. These things always made her curious. If there were shadowdroppers in the desert, why not rainbowdrinkers? She wiped the violet mess on the sand, trying to clean her fingers. She rose and began the trek back home. No need to deal with the horde today.

Her lusus would be hungry.

***

Gamzee threw a stone into the water. He couldn't make it skip. This was pissing him off. He sat by the water and fumed. Purple drifted in and out to sea with each ebb of the tide. The seadweller's head was tied by the hair to a pier, her mouth agape and eyes popped.

No one steals from Gamzee Makara.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a week since Vriska had crippled Tavros. She couldn't help but feel there was a presence in her hive now; a constantly watching _something_. It felt familiar and yet entirely new. Aradia had not contacted her again, not since the debacle. Terezi was also giving her the cold shoulder. She had been talking to Kanaya more and more, relying on her. Life, to put it simply, had changed. You simply aren't confronted with the souls of the dead and then move on. She wanted to work on her doomsday devices, but couldn't bring herself to. She got a cold chill every time she touched one.

She looked out the window of her hive, from nearly the top floor. The lusii were out there. Strays, with dead children. There were three. An echobird, unable to fly on it's massive wings. A barkfiend, with a scraggly belly. A scaleworm, blind and confused, trying and failing to strike and constrict the other lusii. They were so pitiful. It wasn't that they were unable to care for themselves; with their charges gone, they simply lost the will to hunt. Vriska wondered why they were here. What drew them to her? They were painful reminders of all the wigglers she had fed to her own lusus. They would probably share the same fate, as soon as she could catch one.

She sighed and left the window. Her lusus was screeching. She tried to ignore it. She was so controlling, so demanding. But she could wait. Someone was trolling her. She sat down at the husktop in the parlor. Oh god, it was this guy.

TC: WHATS UP  
TC: heartstabber  
AG: Uuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhh  
AG: What do you want?  
TC: WHAT  
TC: a guy can't get some conversation on  
TC: WITH A GOOD MOTHERFUCKING FRIEND  
AG: Okay thats fair 8ut  
AG: Im not your good friend  
AG: And you always want something  
TC: fine  
TC: IF YOU GOTTA BE KNOWING  
TC: im all having a need for you to take care of something for me  
AG: What sort of something?  
TC: GOTTA SET UP A DEATH TRAP  
TC: motherfucking waders tryin to be all up in my shit  
TC: TRYIN TO GET REAL DEEP IN MY SHIT, SISTER  
AG: Sorry to inform you  
AG: Well not really sorry 8ut thats 8esides the point  
AG: 8ut im out of comm8ion on the whole "death trap" thing  
TC: what  
TC: WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON OVER THERE  
AG: Nothing!  
AG: Ive just 8een under a lot of stress l8ly  
TC: you  
TC: YOU MOTHERFUCKING  
TC: coward  
TC: CANT EVEN GET UP AND OVER YOUR DAMN SELF  
TC: and help a brother out  
AG: Hey!  
AG: Im sorry we cant all let good lord makara rule over our lives  
AG: Its too 8ad some trolls are actually  
AG: I dont know  
AG: TRYING TO SURVIVE  
AG: 8ut with your pansy ass no show lusus i can see you dont have that pro8lem  
TC: I GOT A CORPSE GETTING ITS ROT ON UP IN HERE  
TC: plenty of payment  
TC: FOR YOUR  
TC: uh  
TC: SERVICES  
AG: No makara  
AG: I think were done here  
TC: dont you motherfucking log out on me  
AG: Oops :::;)

\-- arachnidsGrip [AG] has disconnected --

TC: DONT YOU MOTHERFUCKING DARE  
TC: oh  
TC: WELL FUCK ME WITH A CAR BATTERY  
TC: ill be getting you down and back for this shit  
TC: VRISKA  
TC: motherfucking  
TC: SERKET

\--terminallyCapricious [TC] has disconnected--

 

He seemed particularly riled up. Probably just in need of a Faygo and a fistfight, honestly.

***

Gamzee was not in the mood for Faygo. He was burning to the fucking core. Dead eyes stared out at him from the shelves. "STOP MOTHERFUCKING LOOKING AT ME," he yelled, ripping a head from it's place and shattering it's skull against the wall, blue splattering everywhere. He wandered outside, into the summer heat.

The moons were high and beautiful. He angrily waved at a neighbor as he trudged on. Stupid motherfucking Serket. Talking about his lusus like that. Where did she get off? Ain't his fault the old goat is never around. At least he wasn't raised by a murderous hell beast. He was agitated. He needed to calm down. He didn't know where he was going, but he kept walking. Somehow he found himself along the shore again. His facepaint dripped with sweat. He walked for hours it seemed. At some point he departed from the shore, headed farther inland. He didn't stop until the sky was tinged red. Shit. He had been out too long. This was where he died. He finally looked up from his rage-induced stupor. He was the last place he wanted to be.

But he had no choice but to trudge up to Equius's hive and hope he was still awake.

***

AG: Are you sure there isnt anything you can do a8out it?  
AG: Leave a carcass out in the middle of the desert or something  
AG: They'll 8e all over that  
GA: That Wouldnt Solve Anything  
GA: Besides  
GA: Not Everyone Comes Across Troll Flesh So Easily  
AG: Yeah ::::/  
GA: Vriska  
GA: Are You Sure Youre Fine  
GA: Youve Been Messaging Me At Odd Hours All Week  
AG: No  
AG: Im not fine  
AG: I have no idea whats going on  
AG: And im pretty sure megido cursed me or something  
GA: Thats Incredibly Superstitious And Ridiculous  
GA: But Im Not Sure What Else Id Expect From You  
AG: Shut up!!!!!!!!  
AG: Im not 8eing ridiculous  
AG: Ever since that night  
AG: The one with tavros  
AG: Remem8er?  
GA: I Remember  
AG: Well  
AG: Since Then  
AG: Ive felt this  
AG: I dont know  
AG: Presence?  
AG: And to make it worse  
AG: I recognized one of the ghosts she sent after me  
GA: You Did  
AG: Yeah  
AG: You remem8er that kid we used to hang out with  
AG: All twelve of us?  
AG: And then i fucked it all up  
GA: Vriska Im Sure Youre Just Being Hard On Yourself For No Reason  
GA: As Usual  
AG: No im n8t!!!!!!!!  
AG: Kanaya  
AG: It was poinko  
GA: Oh  
GA: Thats  
GA: Honestly Very Alarming  
AG: Yeah ::::(  
GA: And Now You Think Hes Haunting You  
AG: I dont know  
AG: I just  
AG: Fuuuuuuuuck  
GA: Its Almost Sunup  
AG: Do you want me to let you sleep?  
GA: I Was Going To Suggest You Get Some Rest Yourself  
GA: How Much Have You Been Sleeping  
AG: Not very much  
GA: Then I Insist You Get Some Sleep  
GA: You Will Think More Rationally After Some Rest  
AG: You still dont bel8ve me  
GA: I Dont  
AG: Heh  
AG: Figures  
GA: Are You Going To Sleep  
AG: Yeah  
AG: Good morning  
GA: Good Morning  
AG: Hey kanaya  
GA: Yes  
AG: <> pale for you  
GA: <>

\--arachnidsGrip [AG] has disconnected--

Kanaya took a deep breath and looked out her window. The horde was getting closer and stray lusii were gathering on her lawn ring, drawn to the smell of decay carried by the wind. She had brought her own lusus in some days ago for her own protection. Kanaya closed the shutters and stripped before lowering herself into her recupercoon.

She'd worry about it in the evening.


	3. Chapter 3

Equius had absolutely fallen over himself to accommodate the Highblood. They sat around a tiny wooden table in the center of a vast room, the smell of motor oil filling the air. There was a pile of broken or unfinished robots laying across the wall behind Gamzee. The curtains were drawn to avoid letting any sunlight in. Gamzee was sitting with his legs pulled up in his chair, with a small porcelain teacup in front of him. He didn't drink any. Equius was nervously sipping from a metal mug. "Thanks for giving a brother a place to crash for the day, Zahhak," he croaked out. Equius laughed nervously, setting his cup down on the table as gently as he could. "Of course, _Hoiblootrykk_. It is my honor, truly. May I ask what you were doing out so late? If that is fine, of course." Gamzee nodded somberly, "Just out for a walk. You know how it is."

Equius didn't know, not really. He agreed anyway. "Lucky I got my best motherfucking friend on the whole damn planet to take me in when my dumb ass is all out and aground and all that shit." Equius anxiously picked his cup up again, beads of sweat trailing down his neck. "I.... did not realize we were that close." Gamzee laughed, "Brother, we talk every goddamn day, you know?" Equius chuckled nervously, "Yes, I suppose we do." He tapped his foot anxiously, sweating an absolute storm, wondering if it would be out of line to ask Gamzee to stop swearing, but instead opted to make idle conversation, "Yes, I must admit you are perhaps my dearest _fen_." Gamzee chuckled, picking at the plastic of his shoe, "Bro, you don't even know where we be standing? Ain't no _fen_ about it, we're straight up friends." Equius eyed the clock hanging from the wall across the room. He desperately needed Arthour to arrive on a scheduled towel run.

***

Vriska was neck deep in sopor, the warm slime seeping into her every pore and soothing aching muscles. But she couldn't get any sleep. There was something else in here, and besides, the spider wouldn't stop screeching. She laid in the relaxing mixture for all of fifteen minutes before she was forced to get up, shower, and change into some fresh clothes, desperately needing to find the old bitch some food. She peered out a window, the harsh morning sun burning her eyes. Shit.

There were more stray lusii in her lawn ring. The plan was to get down there, kill one, and feed it to her lusus, just to shut the monster up, but it wasn't going to be easy, especially not in broad daylight. But she had no choice. She started looking for her dice, but could only find six. She scoured the room, mumbling, "shit, shit, shit" under her breath, desperate for her weapon. The remaining two were no where to be found, and she wasn't about to try her luck with only six. She felt like pulling out her hair, but instead grabbed an eight ball off her desk and threw it hard against the wall, shattering it and sending fluid everywhere, screeching "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME????????". The little die inside landed at her feet, commanding her to ask again later.

She was armed with a kitchen knife and a black coat. The sun burned her eyes and she swore she could feel her skin peeling off. She had only been out about two minutes and already her clothes were clinging to her with sweat. She hurried across the lawnring, where an emaciated lizard was sunning itself. By the time it noticed her, she was upon it. She straddled it's back as it attempted to throw her off, it's massive weight slamming against her legs and chest. She brought the knife down. Bright blue blood spurted across the sand. She lost her balance and the creature bit at her, tearing an arm off her coat. She stabbed it again, in the eye, a thin line of blue running down it's filthy, scaly face. Another lusus had noticed the struggle and swooped down upon them, digging it's claws into Vriska's scalp. She shook her head and stabbed at it as the lizard clamped it's massive jaws onto her ankle, making her cry out in pain. She was being dragged along the desert sand, her ankle leaking blue, with a balding vulture trying to chew off her face. She was eventually able to stab the bird, leaving it wounded in the sand, green blood joining the puddles of blue. The lizard was attempting to swallow her whole, working it's way up her leg. She leaned over through the pain and stabbed it in the head. It fell dead, and she slowly pulled her foot out through the teeth, saliva stinging her torn flesh. She stood, limping over to the squawking bird in the sand. She planted one foot on it's back and grabbed it's head before pulling with such force the neck snapped and the head popped right off.

By the time she was safe inside and her lusus was fed, Vriska had developed a series of unsightly blisters on her right arm where the creatures exposed her to the sunlight. They were a dim blue and hurt to the touch, her skin red around the inflammation. She tenderly ran her finger along her arm, feeling the bumps of her new rash, covering every inch of arm that wasn't blister, ugly white heads growing out of reddish gray skin. She had half a mind just to cut the damn thing off. Instead, she covered her arm in bandages and went back to bed.

She barely noticed the shape standing over her as she drifted off.

***

It was quickly becoming apparent that Kanaya needed to get out of there. The horde was only getting larger and closer. She stood outside her hive, picking off the outcasts of the horde. A troll leaking green all over the desert sand crawled up to her, his organs trailing out his ruined lower body. She simply stepped on his head, crushing his skull under her heel. She'd need to do something with all the bodies that were piling up.

It was another fifteen minutes in the excruciating sun before another shadowdropper approached her. She buried her chainsaw in it's head, sticky rust spraying everywhere, coating her face, getting in her mouth. It tasted sour. By the time the creature fell, she was soaked in it's fluids, her work clothes ruined forever. She looked down at her work, the head chopped cleanly in two, exposing semi-dried brain. Kanaya crinkled her nose.

A stray lusus came up and began chewing on the bisected corpse. She watched in morbid curiosity as it crunched the dead former troll's bones in it's jaws, the snap echoing through the desert.


	4. Chapter 4

GA: I Think We Need To Talk  
AG: Uh yeah  
AG: A8out what  
GA: Do You Think I Could Spend A Few Nights At Your Hive  
AG: Oh  
AG: Yeah i h8 to do this to you  
AG: 8ut i really dont think thats a good idea  
GA: Why  
AG: You know  
AG: This and that  
AG: That and this  
AG: Just varying levels of that and this laying around  
GA: Vriska Did Something Happen  
AG: No!!!!!!!!  
AG: Nothing happ8ned!!!!!!!!  
GA: Forgive Me For Not Believing That  
AG: Look  
AG: Its just that my lusus is 8eing especially 8itchy l8ly  
AG: Its nothing against you  
AG: I just cant have you here right now  
GA: Vriska I Think Im In Danger  
GA: Please  
AG: Shit  
AG: Whats going on over there?  
GA: Shadowdroppers  
AG: So????????  
AG: Youve killed shadowdroppers 8efore  
AG: Ive seen you do it  
AG: Youre like  
AG: Almost as cutthroat as me when you put your mind to it  
AG: Almost  
GA: I Do Not Think That Is Very High Praise  
AG: Its gr8 praise  
GA: Regardless  
GA: There Is Too Many Of Them  
GA: I Worry If They Smell Me Or My Lusus  
GA: Well  
AG: How many?  
GA: About 200  
AG: Holy shit yeah thats a lot alright  
AG: Look  
AG: Youre really putting me on th8 spot h8re  
AG: I just think it might 8e 8etter 8f you f8nd som8place else to stay  
GA: Thats A Lot Of Eights  
GA: Are You Sure You Arent Hiding Something From Me  
AG: YES!!!!!!!!  
AG: Fine  
AG: If youre going to 8e so pushy  
AG: Then you can stay at my place  
AG: Happy?  
GA: No  
AG: UUUUUUUUGH  
GA: But I Will Be Visiting You  
GA: Someone Needs To Keep An Eye On You  
GA: Now More Than Ever I Feel  
AG: Yeah  
AG: Sure  
AG: Fine  
AG: Im going to feed the hell8east  
GA: Vriska Wait

Vriska stepped outside into the warm night air. She looked down the precipice her house was stationed over. The blue blood of her Lusus flowed like a river from it's massive corpse. It wasn't WRONG, right? I mean, she was a monster. A big, hellish monster. She ate people. And she wouldn't stop screaming. Vriska couldn't handle the screaming. She thought of the way the ghost watched her do it. It was his fault, alright? It was Poinko's fault. He edged her on, he whispered to do it, over and over again.

Vriska was an orphan. Worse than that, she was a murderer. She was trash, and she knew it. The lights were on in Equius's hive. For the first time in a long time, she heard voices from across the ravine. God, where wasn't she hearing voices these days? In his hive, in her coon, on her husktop. The voices assaulted her from all sides.

It was Megido's fault. All of it. She had to pay. But Vriska couldn't just kill her, right? I mean, she was a friend, when all was said and done. She wasn't even trying to kill Tavros, she just wanted to fuck with him, teach him the world wasn't all hugs and fluffcritters.

Vriska did the only thing a monster could do. She blamed others. And more than that, she cried.

***

Gamzee still hadn't gone home. He was worked up over something, watching Vriska's hive. His very presence was making Equius uncomfortable. Neither of them had slept well in days, nor had either of them talked much. Equius had nothing to say to his superior, his friend, and whatever Gamzee had to say he wasn't saying it.

Still, there were occasional conversations. "Hoiblootrykk, would you like something to eat?"  
"Food."  
"Of course, but surely you would prefer a certain type of sustenance, and I am more than happy to-"  
"A FUCKIN JOKE, ZAHHAK. gotta learn you how to get your damn mirth on."  
"Oh, of course. But still-"  
"MIRTHLESS FUCKIN PEASANTRY. all the same. Concerned with WICKED FOLLY WHEN THE MESSIAHS ARE ALL UP AND THROWING BLESSINGS IN THEIR MOTHERFUCKING FACES. Damn up shittin out blessings, brother."  
"Yes. I understand."  
Equius parted, seeking Arthour. He would prepare another feast tonight, and it would surely go unappreciated.


End file.
